Klevette is the product of a controlled breeding program that had the objective of developing plants with the precocity characteristics of PAC Cherry, the cutting production of dark red seedling Cora, and the leaf zonation and flower color of Klefice.
Klevette orignated from the seed parent Marlevit (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,908) and pollen parent Klefice (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,995). The name Klevette is the name under Breeders Rights protection. Marlevit was originated in the inventor's nursery in 1984 and has been commercially available since 1989. Klefice was discovered as a mutuation, is protected under plant breeders' rights (Plant Protection in Hanover, Germany) and has been commercially available since 1990. Both plants are part of a commerical selection available for purchase and both are trialed and observed each year under indoor and outdoor conditions in the same manner as trials on new varieties. The seed parent Marlevit is protected in Hanover under the tradename Credo and Klefice are also sold under the tradename Arcona. Klevette has not yet been commercialized.
The new cultivar was discovered in 1991 in Stuttgart, Germany and selected by the inventor as one flowering plant from among the progeny of the seed parent Marlevit and the pollen parent Klefice in a controlled environment. The seed from Marlevit was obtained after cultivation of Marlevit with pollen parent Klefice. Klevette differs from both parents in having extremely dark purple flowers and strong zonation.
Compared with the dark red flowers of its seed parent Marlevit, Klevette's flowers are very purple. Neither plant is very well self-branching. Compared to its pollen parent, Klevette has a much darker purple color compared to the bluish dark red or magenta color of Klefice. Klefice is compact and dense with good self-branching zonation, flowers without a summer break, has good precocity and has is a heavily flowering compact plant with a dense canopy because of vigorous vegetative growth and abundant foliage. Similarly, Klevette has foliage with strong zonation but lacks good self-branching leaf characteristics.
The first act of asexual reproduction of Klevette was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany by the inventor or technicians working under the supervision of the inventor. Horticultural examination of selected plants demonstrated that the combination of characteristics herein disclosed for Klevette are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
Klevette has not be observed under all possible experimental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length. The following observations, measurements and comparisons describe plants grown in Stuttgart, Germany under conditions that approximate those used in commerical practice. Similar characteristics are found when the plant is grown under controlled environmental conditions in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Of the many varieties of the same species of geranium plant known to the inventor, the closest resemblance is perhaps to the old Kardinal (a diploid and simple flower plant) or Pelfi Kardino or with Americana Violett. The flower color of the new cultivar appears to be unique and to the inventor's knowledge there are no comparable flower colors in this species of plant. Klevette is not a diploid variety, making Klevette unusual because there are very few tetraploid varieties with this dark purple color.
The plant of this invention is uniquely adapted to a specific slot in the geranium market by its exceptional unusual combination of characteristics such as:
Floral richness which is spectacular due to its unusually colored flowered petals, and the highly double aspect of the individual flowers themselves. This plant virtually continuously exhibits a colorful display of long lasting flowers during the frost-free culture period. PA0 A basally branching compact, but densely foliated, plant of short internodes which has small and heavily zoned attractive leaves and which produces an unusually high proportion of flowers to vegetative growth. PA0 Having non-shattering flowers which are so fully double as to collect moisture and be prone to attendant flower disease problems, but which, when planted in a protected or dry area, produces flower clusters and flowers of exceedingly bright, hot, colorful appearance. PA0 Having a unique flower color which is pleasingly contrasted with tightly bunched, attractively zoned foliage. PA0 Producing individual flowers with a high count of large, wide and heavily imbricated non-fading petals which deliver a burst of color effect not previously seen in this market class of geraniums.
The listed traits in combination offer a plant which is highly attractive and believed will be accepted as exceptional by those skilled in this art for use as a bedding plant or specimen plant, or for use as parent material in future geranium breeding systems.